<p>I asked this months ago, but I can give a more complete profile now so I'm going to bug you guys one last time. I'm in my senior year at a fairly uncompetitive, unprestigious rural public high school. My cumulative GPA, not weighted, is 3.975, and I'm ranked 11th of 207 students. For what it's worth, I've taken the most intense courseload possible at my school, with four APs and four dual enrollment classes, and I'm moderately involved: four years of varsity tennis, founder of the film club, independent study for art as well as a gallery showing of my photographs, tutoring, volunteer work (100+ hours) and NHS. I work part-time as a sort of youth editor at the local newspaper, and my stories have been printed, which is a great opportunity considering that journalism is my planned field of study (yes, I know there is no undergraduate journalism major at Columbia). I got a 2270 on the SAT reasoning (800 Reading, 780 Writing, 690 Math), but just took the subject tests last weekend, so I have no idea how I did on those.</p>
<p>With strong essays, do I have a chance RD? Should I try for ED? What should I play up and what shouldn't I include? It's my dream school, but I'm realistic. Any input would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>from your background, you have the burden of proof to show that you are mentally prepared for a place like columbia. the reason you see so many prep school kids going to top schools has nothing to do with money - it has to do with the fact that those schools are pressure-cookers where the stress and expectations level are higher than you'd believe. The same is true for top public schools, such as where I went - I found that Columbia was EASIER than high school. Certainly less stressful.</p>
<p>So, coming from a different background, you need to show that your lifestyle and organizational skills are up to par with what they'd expect. They don't want to spend an admission on someone who'll burn out or transfer, so they want to see that you've gone above and beyond the call of duty in seeking out new opportunities, being relentlessly proactive about learning.</p>
<p>The key word is "passion". They want to see that you have a passion for something academic. It can be math, science, history, philosophy, psychology, journalism, they don't care. It can even be quasi-academic. But they want you to prove that you really LOVE something (or a small set of somethings), and believe me, when that's true, it shines through on an application.</p>
<p>Think about how you're going to show an adcom that you're passionate. Think about whether you're going to be able to make that case come Nov 1st (or Jan 1st). Then decide how you want to roll.</p>